Karen’s chin dropped. “Rafe and the coyotes have a list of undercover agents.”
Now Karen had finally surprised Sarah. A fist squeezed her heart. “How the hell did they get that?”
“Because they had someone in the FBI who gave it to them. Someone who hacked the system, got the names, and just handed them right over.”
Shit.
“Those men who were murdered in Arizona weren’t random. John wasn’t random. Everyone they’ve killed . . . they’re taking out our watchers. Our agents.”
No, that wasn’t possible. They couldn’t—
“Rafe thought he could turn you to his side. If he couldn’t turn you, he’d kill you.” Flat. “John wasn’t given the option of turning. The coyotes didn’t want a traitor with them.”
An image of John’s dead body flashed before her eyes.
“Everyone they’ve killed,” Karen said again. “They’re working on their own extermination list. Not just humans—they’re also taking out charmers and demons, but all their victims are undercover agents.”
No. “You’re wrong.” And she remembered Josette’s grief. “There were three others. Here, in LA. They weren’t—”
“Maxime and Helene?” A bitter smile tugged at Karen’s lips. “They were keeping tabs on the mambo. Letting us know who came to visit, and what price they had to pay. The mambo saw the most powerful and the weakest supernaturals in the area. Did you really think no one was watching her?”
“But . . .” What had been his name? “Josette’s lover, he—” Sarah caught the fast glance the demon sent Karen. Oh, damn. “Did she know?”
“That he was a demon?” Karen shrugged. “Probably. Marie would have told her that.”
“Did she know he was FBI?” No, she hadn’t known. Because Josette thought she was responsible for his death. She didn’t know he’d been marked, just as they all had been.
“If she knew then she wouldn’t be working so hard right now to find and stop his killer, would she?” And Karen’s smile stretched, flashing way too many teeth.
Sarah’s gut clenched. This wasn’t right. “Do you know what she’s been doing? She raised him, K. The pain was so much that she raised him.”
Karen’s gaze dropped. “I didn’t . . . I never thought she’d do that.”
“Then you never f**king thought.”
Karen flinched at Lucas’s disgust.
“She’s the granddaughter of a voodoo priestess, and you really believed she wouldn’t turn to magic when her lover was killed?” Lucas heaved out a hard breath. “Lady, you were kidding yourself. You knew she’d break, and you and your boss didn’t care.”
At that, Karen tried to jump up, but he shoved her right back down.
“You don’t know me!” she threw at him. “Don’t say what—”
Sarah shoved the gun into the back of her jeans. “Who’s the leak?”
Her head nearly rapped into the top of the van. She had to crouch to stay upright.
Karen slanted her a fuming stare, but Sarah saw the tears glittering in the agent’s eyes.
“Who’s the leak?” Lucas shouted.
“We—we thought it was Sarah.”
Hell. Figured. “Then you never f**king thought,” she repeated Lucas’s words quietly, aware of the slight tremble in her fingers. She’d bled for the Bureau. Taken so many cases, nearly lost herself. And they really thought she’d sold the agents out? Sent them to their deaths?
“He was your lover, Sarah. You got in with him so fast. Some said too fast.” Karen glanced at the demon, then back at Sarah. “And you had access to the files on the undercover operatives.”
“Me and a dozen other agents.” Dammit.
“Then you quit the FBI.” Karen sighed. “You looked guilty.”
“I’m not.”
“What Rafe wants, he gets.” Karen’s voice roughened. “He wanted to turn the tables on the Bureau that was hunting his kind, so now he has the list of names.” Her eyes were on Lucas. “He wanted revenge on the man who killed his father, and now he’s got you in his sights.”
What? Was that supposed to make Lucas suspicious of her? What kind of game was Karen spinning?
Sarah glanced out the back window. No other cars. Just a line of trees. “Stop the damn van!” she yelled.
The van squealed to a halt.
The demon flew forward.
Lucas didn’t move. He just watched Sarah.
“What’s the trap, Karen?” Sarah demanded. “What’s the deal? We’re not heading to Lucas’s, this isn’t the right road.”
“No,” Lucas said immediately.
The driver shoved open his door and ran.
Sarah surged forward. Lucas caught her hand. “Let him go,” he said. “There’s nowhere for him to run here.”
But where was here?
“Coyote land,” Lucas said, as if reading her mind.
What the hell?
He laughed at the expression on Karen’s face. “Did you really think I didn’t hear the beep of the transmitter beneath the van? I knew where the ass**le was taking us. Guess that was the plan, though, right? Lure me in, keep me trapped. Take me to a slaughter.” He shoved open the back doors, letting in the setting sun. Soon, darkness would be calling. “The thing is, agent, I wanted you to take me to the bastard. Why the hell do you think I followed your bread crumbs? Why do you think I ever got in the van?”
Karen didn’t speak.
Lucas pointed one claw at the demon. “By the way, Marley, did you really think I was dumb enough not to spot you on sight?”
Marley.
Once more, the demon’s image began to waver.
“Shit!” Now Karen was the one sweating.
“You look different, Marley, but the scent is the same. With you, it always is. Glamour’s only skin-deep, right?”
The dark hair lengthened, sliding past the demon’s shoulders. The face softened, the hard edges slipping away. The cheekbones stretched higher. The lips plumped. In bare seconds, the man was gone.
And the demon who’d left Sarah to burn was back. “Demons didn’t send you to watch my ass,” Lucas said. He grabbed Sarah’s hand and they jumped from the van.
Marley sprang after them, with Karen right at her side. “Lucas!” Now the demon’s voice was feminine. So she’d changed that, too? “I wasn’t given a choice, I—”